


if night falls in your heart, i'll light the fire in the dark (just to bring you home)

by thylionheart



Category: A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Divergent, F/M, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, I got really emotional writing this wow, Oneshot, Possession, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-25 22:37:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14987093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thylionheart/pseuds/thylionheart
Summary: A reimagining of the final confrontation, in which Calvin has been possessed in Charles Wallace's stead.this fic is a standalone & not apart of the "if my heart was a house, you'd be home" series.





	if night falls in your heart, i'll light the fire in the dark (just to bring you home)

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is dedicated to Sho, who gave me the idea :)
> 
> Also, I wish I didn't have to add this little sermon, but I know it's very likely I'm gonna get comments along the lines of "They're just kids, they're not in love", to which I'm gonna reply: That's not what I'm trying to say. Are Meg and Calvin in love in the movie? No. Are they falling in love? In the context of the series' canon I can confidently say that yes, they are. Love is multifaceted and complex. There are different forms of love, not just romantic, and you can love someone as a person, as a friend, and as a romantic interest all at the same time. If all you get out of this fic is that Meg and Calvin are too young to be in love, you've completely missed the point.
> 
> Oh, and I changed some of the dialogue from the movie to reflect what I believe to be a truer perspective of love; more of a Wonder Woman, "It's not about deserve, it's about what you believe, and I believe in love" type perspective. If you don't share the same sentiments, just ignore how I changed it and pretend it's the movie's dialogue. No biggie.
> 
> The title is from the song Start a Riot by BANNERS.

* * *

 

“How could you—how could you leave him?”

“I can’t lose my children!”

“We can’t—No! Stop! _Calvin!_ ”

Meg shoved her father’s hands away and tried to look at the figure looming before them. Calvin watched her with cold, empty eyes. When he tilted his chin they caught the light and flashed a jarring red.

Anger swelled in her chest at the sight. Those weren’t Calvin’s eyes. Calvin’s eyes were bluer than the ocean, full of kindness and selflessness and compassion. He had traveled all this way, across the expanse of the universe itself, for their sakes. They couldn’t just leave him. They couldn’t abandon him to the mercilessness of the IT.

Gritting her teeth, Meg set her resolve.

She would see his blue eyes again.

_“I won’t tesser without him!”_

 

* * *

 

Meg awoke with a start. She blinked several times, trying to adjust her eyes to the inky darkness surrounding her. Moaning, she climbed to her feet, swaying slightly. Her entire body ached.

_“Welcome.”_

A low, discordant voice reverberated all around her. Meg stumbled, nearly twisting her ankle, and peered into the pitch-black gloom for the voice’s source.

_“You made the right decision to join us. Don’t you feel better? You look better. I’ve known you for a long time. It’s good to finally have you here.”_

Out of the corner of her eye, Meg spied something move along a rocky ledge. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw a familiar mop of brown hair. “Calvin…” She ran across the pitted terrain toward her friend. “Calvin!”

He turned to her and she faltered. Luminous cracks splintered across Calvin's face, as though his skin were made of porcelain. His red, vicious eyes bored into hers.

“Hi, Meg,” Calvin said coolly. “We knew you’d be back. Gotta say, there’s nothing we love more than stupid courage.”

Dread pricked at Meg’s skin and she took a step back. “We?”

“Oh,” Calvin chuckled—a rough, grating noise that sent a chill down her spine. “Where’re my manners? Meg, meet the IT.”

A sound deeper than thunder erupted under Meg’s feet and the world around her quaked with such ferocity she nearly fell to her knees. Ember-like pockets of harsh orange light flared across the dark expanse, revealing a network of writhing tendrils that pulsed and surged like neurons firing.

No… _exactly_ like neurons firing.

They were standing in the IT’s brain.

“Welcome to the darkest mind in the universe.” A wicked grin spread across Calvin’s face. “Extraordinary, don’t you think?”

“That’s one word for it.”

Calvin disappeared behind one of the synaptic columns. His voice echoed throughout the blackness and she spun around, trying to find him. “We could really use a gal like you. So, what do you say? Would you like to join us?”

“No thanks,” Meg muttered.

Then something shoved her from behind and she fell, her chin bashing hard against the ground and her glasses tumbling off her nose. Meg clambered for them, cutting her fingers on the abrasive, rock-like surface. When she put them back on and saw what had pushed her, she gasped.

It was…her. Another _her_. 

Meg stood slowly, afraid to look away. Her double held her gaze stiffly, arms crossed. It was like staring into a mirror—except the Other Her had thick, straight hair that fell in velvety waves and she wasn’t wearing glasses. Her clothes were different too; expensive and form-fitting, a far cry from Meg’s secondhand threads.

_“Take a good look at her.”_ The IT’s voice surrounded Meg as the Other Her circled her, scrutinizing her. _“She’s a better version of you. She’s sure to be popular. A great student. Principal Jenkins is going to love her. And Calvin probably will too.”_

Insecurity washed over Meg and she blinked away the stinging in her eyes.

_“She doesn’t just have to live in your imagination. I can make her real.”_

“You said you wanted to return as somebody else.” Calvin reappeared, stepping out of the shadows a few feet above them. “Join us, and we’ll make you just like her.”

The Other Her tossed her smooth hair behind her shoulders and sneered.

A memory sparked in the back of Meg’s mind; a memory of smiling blue eyes and soft, sincere words.

_Y’know, you have great hair._

_I like your hair._

Meg let out a breathy huff of air, almost like a wry chuckle. “You’re wrong.”

Calvin already found her beautiful.

The Other Her scoffed. She climbed the nearby synapse and sidled up to Calvin, her hands skimming up his chest to coil around his neck. Fire burst within Meg and she thrust her hand forward. “No!”

Calvin reeled back as her doppelgänger let out a chilling scream and plummeted into the void. The IT shuddered with rage.

“You better watch yourself, or we’ll do to you what you did to her,” Calvin growled, the fissures on his face pulsing. “We don’t care whose friend you are.”

Meg tried to run toward him, but a tangle of synapses took a swipe at her, knocking her violently down. She hit the ground with a grunt and slumped onto her stomach, dazed.

“We’re your only option, and we’re starting to not want you. A feeling you’re very used to, actually.  Nobody in school likes you. Your father left you without so much as a goodbye. Every bad thing you think about yourself is _true_.”

Meg’s throat burned with tears, and she struggled to breathe as her chest constricted with a repressed sob. Blood pounded in her ears and her body felt so, so heavy. Calvin’s words cut her like a knife, like icy rain against her skin. A part of her grew dull and weary, urging her numbly to just give in to the hungry darkness.

Then, deep within her, she heard a soft symphony of voices.

_The wound is the place where the light enters you._

_Be a warrior. Can you?_

_I give you the gift of your faults._

_You have no idea how incredible you are. Do you?_

Understanding sunk slowly into Meg’s bones. Her heart seized with revelation and a newfound resolve.

“I know my faults,” Meg began, rising. “How I’m messy, uncoordinated. I don’t trust anyone.” She shoved her hands in her back pockets and took a deep, shuddering breath, her next words sticking roughly in her throat. “Most days I hate myself.

For the slightest moment, Calvin wavered. Hope filled Meg, and she continued.

“I’m impulsive and suspicious. And yet...you love me.”

_“What?!”_

“Don’t you, Calvin?” whispered Meg, walking steadily toward him. He stumbled back a step, breathing heavily.

He needn’t answer. Meg held no doubt in her mind that it was true, not anymore. Calvin loved her. He loved her for who she was, flaws and all, just as the Mrs loved her despite the darkness within her, despite only knowing her for a day. The entire journey Calvin had been unabashed in his affection and fondness for her, both as a friend and as something…more.

“That’s why you traveled across the universe with us—to make _me_ happy. That’s why you trusted me with the truth about your father. That’s why the Mrs let you come on this journey, because they felt your love! You saw the beauty in me and helped me see it for myself. You love me, and I—I love you, Calvin.”

Calvin convulsed. The light splintering across his skin dimmed and his eyes flashed a fleeting blue. Then the terrain beneath her rumbled and the IT let out a blood-curdling roar. _“No!”_

A snarl of synapses lashed out and struck Meg so forcibly that, when she hit the ground, lights danced across her vision and all the air escaped her lungs.

“It’s okay,” Calvin said disdainfully. The brief clarity that had shone in his eyes a moment ago was gone. “Few understand just how weak light is. Few are willing to accept the fact that love is just a word. It’s an empty, meaningless word! Your sad, pitiful species doesn’t even deserve what you imagine love to be.”

Groaning, Meg pushed herself to her knees. “You can hurt me when I say I love you, but I’ll love you anyway! And you’ll love me, even when I don’t deserve it, even when I’m lashing out, even when I’m pushing everyone away.”

Calvin pressed his hands to his ears as though her words pained him. “Stop!” 

Dark, pulsing coils seized Meg and brought her to her feet, dangling her a few inches above the ground and squeezing her so tightly she thought her arms might break. She grit her teeth against the pain and continued, her voice trembling with conviction. “Because love isn’t a feeling, or something anyone deserves. Love is a belief, a choice, a promise. That’s what makes it precious. That’s what makes it real! And I love you! I love you, Calvin, _I love you!_ ”

The IT’s grip on her loosened for just a split second—enough time for Meg to break free of its grasp and rush at her friend. Neither he nor the IT had a chance to react before she flung herself at Calvin and kissed him. He staggered back and nearly tripped, but Meg clung to him fiercely, clutching his face in her hands and pouring every ounce of her love and desperation into the kiss.

Calvin spasmed and gasped, and she almost sobbed when his eyes flickered blue and he croaked, “Meg?”

Then the synapses around them screeched, thrashing wildly with fury. Meg felt a searing, crushing pain in her middle and she screamed as the IT’s black tendrils tore her away from Calvin and hurled her across the chasm with the ease of a child throwing a rag doll. Her body slammed against a neuronic crag, and the world went dark.

 

* * *

 

A splitting headache and intense nausea brought Calvin to his knees. He struggled to catch his breath, biting back the bile burning his throat. When the pain and queasiness dulled, he stared at his hands, horrified.

_Meg._

Calvin lurched to his feet, scouring the dark abyss. “Meg?”

Silence.

“Meg? _Meg?!_ ” screamed Calvin, his fracturing voice echoing back at him hollowly.

Anxiety stole his breath and settled heavily in his gut. Then he spotted her, crumpled into a ball about forty feet away, and he scrambled across the uneven surface until he reached her. Falling to the ground beside her, Calvin frantically rolled her onto her back and searched for a pulse. After a few harrowing moments, he felt it beat feebly against his fingertips.

“Meg, wake up,” Calvin begged her softly. “Please, wake up.”

She didn’t move. Calvin’s eyes stung with hot tears, shame and panic and fear all twisting together in his chest until what little composure he had left shattered and he began to cry. Gathering her into his arms, Calvin brushed Meg’s hair from her face and cupped her cheek.

“I’m sorry,” Calvin choked out between sobs. “I’m so sorry, Meg. I didn’t mean it, any of it. I’m so sorry I hurt you. Just please, please wake up. I love you.”

Meg stirred, her eyelids fluttering open. When her gaze focused on Calvin she took a sharp breath and reached for his face, searching his eyes desperately. “Calvin?”

“It’s me,” whispered Calvin softly. “It’s me.”

A whimper caught in her throat and she threw her arms around his neck. Calvin returned the embrace, his shoulders shaking as he buried his face in her hair.

“I’m so, so sorry. I do love you, Meg. I love you, I love you.”

“I know.”

Calvin drew out the hug, cradling her face and kissing her earnestly. Meg fisted her hands in his shirt and kissed him back before pulling away with a sob. He pressed his forehead against hers and together they shared tearful smiles.

All at once, the world around them began to glow. The shadowy synapses crumbled into radiant spheres, bathing the IT in a brilliant, blinding light. Calvin and Meg stumbled to their feet and stared in awe at the glorious sight.

Then the air before them shivered, and Meg squeezed Calvin’s hand as three figures shimmered into view.

The Mrs had come for them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! ♥︎


End file.
